Party in Taroko National Park attracts attention of authorities after Facebook photos surface

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/11
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A bed and breakfast (B&B) operator and more than 10 of his guests are facing fines for water pollution after their party photos at the closed Wenshan hot spring in Taroko National Park were posted to Facebook Monday (May 11), CNA reported.

The photos show more than 10 young men and women venturing into the Wenshen hot spring at night, washing their heads in the river, pouring water from a beer can, and lying inside a tunnel of the Central Cross-Island Highway. The boys wore swimming shorts, the girls bikinis.

The post attracted a lot of criticism from Facebook users who blamed the revelers for spoiling the natural ecology.

The B&B operator, surnamed Wang (王), defended the behavior of his guests in a telephone interview with CNA, saying that the beer can in the photo contained water, not beer. He added that it's a shame that the wonderful hidden destination in Hualien is closed and insisted that they were doing what visitors should do in order to have a nice trip.    [FULL  STORY]